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Minister in the Office of the Prime Minister Ayanna Webster-Roy says the Anglican Church is to decide whether the St Michael’s Home for Boys will return to its original moorings—caring for boys who were in need of foster care and supervision.
On Wednesday, the ministry confirmed that a joint decision had been taken by the Government and the Anglican Church to close the school which now houses only four boys.
The four boys, according to Webster-Roy, “are in need of care and supervision and we are working with the Children’s Authority to have them transferred to alternative facilities,” which would be suitable.
Asked about the decline in occupancy at St Michael’s, Webster-Roy confirmed that St Michael’s had acted as a “temporary rehabilitation centre to treat with boys who are in conflict with the law,” but that changed when the Children Act came into being.
“Those boys would have then been transferred to the Youth Training Centre because boys in conflict with the law now fall under the remit of the National Security Ministry,” she said.
That legislative change meant that St Michael’s reverted to its mandate as “a community residence for boys in need of care and supervision,” but the numbers had dwindled significantly. She said the decision to close the facility was a “mutual” one between the Anglican Church and the Gender and Child Affairs division of the Office of the Prime Minister.
In making the decision, she said, “we took into consideration all the factors, the new direction we are going in terms of the care and protection of children, ensuring people are appropriately placed, we looked at the number of children housed at the institution.”
She dismissed claims by President of the Public Services Association Watson Duke that the Anglican Church and the Government had conspired to sell the property.
“That is far from the truth. What the church decided to do is that after the facility is closed, the church will consider whether to go back to its original moorings, which is caring for boys who are in need of care and supervision. It has nothing to do with freeing up the real estate or anything like that,” the minister said.
St Michael’s originally served as an orphanage for orphaned boys.
The 40-odd staff members fall under the Statutory Authority Service Commission (SASC) and Webster-Roy said a decision would have to be taken by that authority whether they are to be reassigned.
Staffers at the St Mary’s Children’s Home in Tacarigua, which is also run by the Anglican Church, told Guardian Media they have received no word on whether the home will also be affected, “but we know whatever happens at St Michael’s will reach St Mary’s.”
Staffers said St Mary’s is less than “70 per cent compliant with the Children’s Authority standards and the staff are required to, among other things, psychometric testing, but when we were hired under the SASC that was not a requirement.”
Bishop of the Anglican Church Claude Berkeley and head of the Children’s Authority Haniff Benjamin could not be reached for comment.